<div>O_O</div><div> </div><div>No more public seats!? Gone the voice of reason is..?</div><div> </div><div>There's QUITE some detail in your diary Karl. I understand how this gives the public information - but how does this become insurance? Could you elaborate please?</div>
<div> </div><div>-C<br><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 7:09 AM, Karl Auerbach <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:karl@cavebear.com" target="_blank">karl@cavebear.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid" class="gmail_quote">
<div class="im">On 09/03/2012 03:02 PM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro wrote:<br>
<br>
> I am that board member.<br>
><br>
> Karl, which seat number was it that you occupied at the time?<br>
<br>
</div>I don't remember having a number.<br>
<br>
I was the first (and only) publicly elected board member for the<br>
so-called "North American" area. (I use quote marks because I thought<br>
it odd that ICANN's "North America" included Greenland but not Mexico.)<br>
<br>
There were five of these publicly elected seats, one for each of ICANN's<br>
geographic regions. ICANN erased all of these seats so that there would<br>
never again be a public election.<br>
<br>
For the most part I thought that the five publicly elected directors<br>
were quite good - and in the North American election I felt that every<br>
candidate, except perhaps one, was extremely well qualified. Because we<br>
all had to endure at least some degree of public selection the election<br>
process brought to the fore people who tended to be more opinionated<br>
than people who came to their board seats by a "nominating committee"<br>
process in which the criteria is sometimes that of choosing the least<br>
objectionable, most mainstream, rather than those who might give<br>
discomfort or ask too many questions. There were complaints about the<br>
election process in that in some areas there was a lot of nationalistic<br>
and corporate activity; but that is to be expected when there are<br>
democratic processes - the winner often tends to be he/she who is the<br>
best organized. (For online elections in these days of social media the<br>
value of corporate money and organization does not seem as strong an<br>
advantage as it is in more political governmental elections; I hope that<br>
this isn't just a transitory or illusory situation.)<br>
<br>
Here in the US there were seven of us running for the seat. Some you<br>
may have heard of - such as Larry Lessig. All were very good and we had<br>
a very vibrant election process including face-to-face debates (at<br>
Harvard and Stanford universities and several open online debates.) My<br>
campaign platform is still online at:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.cavebear.com/archive/icann-board/platform.htm" target="_blank">http://www.cavebear.com/archive/icann-board/platform.htm</a><br>
<br>
Many aspects of that platform remain important, but I'd like to draw<br>
your attention to one that is close to my heart:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.cavebear.com/archive/icann-board/platform.htm#full-members" target="_blank">http://www.cavebear.com/archive/icann-board/platform.htm#full-members</a><br>
<br>
I regret one aspect of that platform - I misjudged Louis Touton and did<br>
not give him the credit he deserved.<br>
<br>
I also felt that it was important to give to the public the reasons for<br>
what I did when I was on the board, so I kept an on-line diary of my<br>
decisions. (In order not to step on the toes of others I tried to<br>
record my points of view and not to reflect too much about what other<br>
board members were thinking - I figured that that was their obligation<br>
to perform, or not.) I received a whole lot of subtle flak from ICANN<br>
for publishing that diary, although it now seems that what I did back<br>
then that was found so objectionable has been adopted to a degree in<br>
ICANN's inclusion of a rationale section in its board meeting minutes.<br>
<br>
That diary is still online at:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.cavebear.com/archive/icann-board/diary/index.htm" target="_blank">http://www.cavebear.com/archive/icann-board/diary/index.htm</a><br>
<br>
One of the reasons that I maintained that public diary was that I was<br>
(and am) quite aware of the tremendous risks of personal liability that<br>
hang over every director of a non-profit corporation. Some of these<br>
liabilities seem to be such that they can not be protected against by<br>
any kind of insurance policy. So, in addition to it simply being "the<br>
right thing to do" I created and maintained that diary so that I, should<br>
the occasion arise, have means to demonstrate that my acts were<br>
legitimately within the "business judgment rule" that protects corporate<br>
directors.<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
--karl--<br>
<br>
<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br>